UX Was Here
March 2024 — 4 days
A dynamic community-based platform designed to bring together a diverse audience of UX enthusiasts to foster connections, tackle existing problems, and build solutions.
Team
Jasper, Tristan, Erika
Tools
Figma, Premier Pro
Role
UX Researcher, UI Designer, Prototyper
Contribution
Conducted user interviews and secondary research, focused on the wireframes, and final prototype.
Client
UX Was Here
UX Was Here’s story started as an anonymous act. Observing the chaos of lunchtime for 1,500 employees, the founder recognized an opportunity to reduce inefficiency and optimize the lines. After a successful guerrilla implementation of his solution, he left behind a mark that proclaimed "UX was here."
This single act led the founder to create, UX Was Here, a global and dynamic platform for all designers passionate about UX to learn and connect to the greater design community. It serves as a hub with various features such as community forums, events, resources and job listings to help foster these connections.
UX Was Here user scenario and solution video
The need
The case study problem
High turn rate but low usage rate
Despite the initial interest, users were noted to quickly drop off after creating their accounts.
Competitive Analysis
How are other online communities doing it?
I conducted competitive analysis of design community platforms and indirect community platforms to understand how others positioned themselves and where UX was Here could benefit.
Designers value learning environments that support free exchange of ideas, advice, and collaboration.
Reddit, Design Buddies, and IterateUX's Discord encourage more conversation thanks to their casual, chat-like culture, while LinkedIn's formal environment creates a higher barrier of entry for newer designers.
Professionalism reinforces credibility.
IterateUX's transparent mentorship lends credibility to its other features: project feedback, portfolio reviews, and mock interviews. In comparison, Glassdoor's anonymous reviews feel less trustworthy with no guarantee of reviewer qualifications.
User Interviews
How are user's actually using the platform?
To gain a diverse understanding of the UX community, we conducted 6 remote user interviews with UX designers ranging from students to professionals about their experience and behavior within online design communities. After, each designer participated in a think-aloud walkthrough of the existing UX was Here website. Through affinity mapping, we were able to identify key insights to guide our design phase.
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Interaction Patterns and Opinions on Online Communities (left), First Impressions of UX was Here (right)
Our three main insights:
Lack of a unique value proposition to draw users in
“Why shouldn’t I use pre-existing touch points with established user-base besides a much more curated space?”
“If i have multiple tabs of existing platforms on my browser such as LinkedIn and EventBrite, what’s the difference between that and this platform - besides saving the need to login between three separate accounts.”
Disconnect between brand and product
“Cultivating a community when there is no content or activity is very hard.”
“The expectations of having such a wide demographic of users seems very daunting to creating meaningful content and interactions for.”
UX Designers desire authenticity
“A closer-knit community feels less daunting, especially for a community that I actually want to be a part of. Take a Deviantart group of over 50,000+ members for example - where do you even start? There’s so much content to sift through that chances are, I won’t open.”
“There’s a lot of ego on LinkedIn since masses are wanting to get jobs, there is little barrier to authenticity - “divorced from reality.” I much rather prefer the 1-on-1 interactions between people as it gets rid of fake veneer.”
Brand Pillars
So we went back to the brand pillars
Mapping the pillars against the actual product confirmed what users were feeling, that the brand promised connection, but the product wasn't built for it as it was primarily built around events and a job board.
That gap pointed us to the highest-potential fix: enabling open conversation and participation with two tactics.
Image of UX Was Here brand pillars mapped out by our team.
Investigating where this all started.
UX Was Here didn't begin as a platform, it began as one person quietly fixing something for strangers. It was an open, candid and unglamorous effort, which started to pull us back in.
The Problem
How might we create a candid space where professionals could grow and build connections within the UX community?
The Solution
Making room to participate on your own terms
Pseudonymous posting, not invisible
Give users the option to post pseudonymously, which reduces barriers to post freely and authentically.
Professional identity is a barrier to honest posting
Due to online permanence, imposter syndrome, fear of criticism, most users default to showing only their best selves, which quietly limits authentic participation.
Choosing pseudoanonymity over full anonymity
We copywrote it as "___ was here" which connects back to the brand story. It's not full anonymity but it’s enough context to keep some personality and accountability in the interaction. This way posts still feel like a real person and not like a ghost account.
Images of various instances our team implemented consent and privacy of the recipient.
Sub-communities to scale for mixed-skill and diverse community
The current explore section treats every post as part of one large discussion, making it hard for specialized content to surface in a platform meant to serve designers across every skill level and discipline.
Current screenshot of UX Was Here homepage.
That is why we created sub-communities. It lets designers connect around specific topics and interests. This allows individual communities to open their own spaces for design jams, challenges, structured discussions, and targeted feedback.
Visible activity matters, even to users who don't want to post
Interviewees wanted to feel part of an active community, but many preferred to observe rather than contribute. By moving the home feed to a multi-column layout surfaces more posts at once, while new repost and poll features let people engage without writing a word.
Resources shouldn't disappear from the conversation
Resources currently live as standalone hyperlinks, invisible on the home feed. Reframing them as "collections" turns them into regular posts regardless of whether it's personal or collaborative. This gives them visibility and cuts down on clutter.